HomicideStats.org

U.S. Homicide Analysis

CDC NVSS FBI UCR BJS

National Homicide Rate

per 100,000

National estimate

Counts and age-adjusted rates · CDC NVSS

Firearm Share of Homicides

Firearms
Other weapons

Weapon Type Breakdown

Non-firearm methods · FBI Expanded Homicide Data 2023

FBI UCR Expanded Homicide Data Table 8, 2023.
Percentages of total homicides where weapon type was reported.
FBI Crime Data Explorer →

Homicide Circumstances

FBI SHR · circumstance known in ~57% of 2022 cases

FBI Supplementary Homicide Reports (SHR), 2022.
"Unknown" doubled since 1985 as clearance rates fell. Felony homicides = killings during another crime.
FBI SHR via CDE →

Hatched bars indicate estimates with wider uncertainty (±2–4 pp)

Homicide Roles

Criminal Homicides

Justifiable Homicides (Private Citizen)

Victims by Race: Share vs. Population

BJS / FBI 2023 · rates per 100,000 shown below chart

BJS Homicide Report 2023 + Census population estimates.
Victim % is share of all homicide decedents. Population % is U.S. demographic share.
BJS HVUS 2023 →

Intra-racial (Known Offender)

Offender–victim race overlap is documented in FBI SHR methodology; not included in the current national dataset export.

Homicide Rate by State

Data Points Summary

Sources

→ BJS Homicide Report 2023 → FBI NIBRS / SHR → FBI Expanded Homicide Data → CDC NVSS

Methodology & Data Limitations

How homicide is counted in the U.S.

CDC NVSS counts homicides from death certificates (medical examiner/coroner determination). Includes all jurisdictions and captures cause of death regardless of arrest. Used for rates and trends.

FBI UCR/SHR/NIBRS counts crimes reported by law enforcement. SHR adds circumstance and victim-offender relationship detail but only where agencies report. Circumstance is known in ~50–60% of cases.

Why "unknown" is so large

Homicide clearance rates fell to ~50% in 2022. Without an arrest, circumstance and offender relationship often remain "unknown" in SHR data — this is a data quality issue, not necessarily that the event was unmotivated.

Unknown circumstance share rose from 22% (1985) to 43% (2022) per Council on Criminal Justice analysis of SHR data.

Justifiable homicide under-reporting

FBI "justifiable homicide by private citizen" (~350–400/yr) requires law enforcement classification. Defensive killings may be initially recorded as criminal homicides; final disposition may not update UCR.

Non-fatal defensive gun uses are excluded entirely from homicide statistics.

Prior arrest records vs. incident role

Studies in select cities (Chicago, Philadelphia, etc.) find 70–80%+ of gun homicide decedents had prior arrests. This describes victim history, not legal guilt in the fatal incident. Do not conflate with offender criminality.